Help Adalyn Along Her Journey
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BELIEVE - Team Adalyn
Adalyn Marie West was born on September 21st, 2016 to two people who couldn’t wait to be parents, Heather and Russell West. A true miracle entered the world that day! Every family wishes for a healthy baby upon arrival and this was thought to be true until about 30 minutes after birth when Adalyn stopped breathing and turned blue. The nurse revived her breathing and Adalyn went to the special care room. Because this hospital did not have a NICU, Russel and Heather made the difficult decision to have her transferred to the nearest hospital with a NICU. Russell traveled with Adalyn to the next hospital and continued the process of examining their new baby girl to find out what was wrong. Heather was discharged and arrived at the next hospital less than twenty four hours after birth. It was the hardest moment in their life to be apart at such a critical moment. After extensive testing and conversation among doctors, Heather and Russell were led into a conference room where their life changed forever. It was a moment that no one could ever prepare someone for and will forever be ingrained in their minds. They were told that Adalyn had an extremely rare heart condition, along with several other conditions that would require more than one surgery. Heather and Russell had to make another life changing decision regarding hospital choice because the care Adalyn needed was out of the expertise of the current hospital. By luck they chose U of M, CS Mott Children’s Hospital and Adalyn was transferred by ambulance once again. Adalyn was at three different hospitals in the first thirty six hours of her life. Heather and Russell knew right when they walked in the door that they had made the correct choice in hospitals to take care of their new baby girl.
Adalyn is now 10 weeks old and has spent 8 of her 10 weeks in the hospital. Adalyn’s rare heart condition is called Scimitar Syndrome. Adalyn’s condition is not typical and does not seem to make sense to the doctors. The anatomy of her heart has left them pretty stumped, more than once. Along with her rare condition, Adalyn also has three holes in her heart, and VSD, ASD, and PDA, and an AP Colateral artery. All of this was causing her blood to mix and making it difficult for her to breathe. The doctors thought it was best to give her a few weeks to grow and when that did not seem to be working they found it in her best interest to do a heart Cath to tie off the AP Colateral. After recovering from her heart Cath, Adalyn was still not growing and they decided to go ahead with her open heart surgery. On November 10th, 2016, they took sweet Adalyn in to surgery to repair all four of her other heart defects. She did well in surgery, but recovery is very slow, she was still in ICU three weeks later. Unfortunately, after surgery and many x-rays, echocardiograms, MRI’s, doctors scratching their heads in confusion, and other tests they discovered that one of the repairs did not go as planned, and will likely require another surgery.
Adalyn has a long road ahead of her, she is recovering now, and will have another surgery to repair a different defect from birth between 3-6 months old. With Adalyn’s heart condition and other defects from birth, they believe Adalyn has VACTRL association. They have done a full genetic screen and will hopefully have answers soon. She has an amazing team of doctors who are working hard to put all the pieces together. Heather and Russell have not left her bedside and would not be anywhere else than beside their little fighter at the hospital. Due to the extensive situation, Heather has temporarily left her cosmetologist job behind and put all of her energy toward the love, health, and care of Adalyn. She is a true miracle and has endured so much in her little life, yet day in and day out proves to be a happy and content little bundle of joy. We know Adalyn will look back on this time in her life and realize that she is beyond special and brave. The support of friends and family has been a true blessing for the West family and they feel very grateful to have such amazing people believing in their daughter’s continuous recovery. This journey has been comforted by their many thoughts and prayers. Thank you!
Team Adalyn - Little Victors
If you have any questions just message Abigail Hammond or Andrea Kosa
Adalyn Marie West was born on September 21st, 2016 to two people who couldn’t wait to be parents, Heather and Russell West. A true miracle entered the world that day! Every family wishes for a healthy baby upon arrival and this was thought to be true until about 30 minutes after birth when Adalyn stopped breathing and turned blue. The nurse revived her breathing and Adalyn went to the special care room. Because this hospital did not have a NICU, Russel and Heather made the difficult decision to have her transferred to the nearest hospital with a NICU. Russell traveled with Adalyn to the next hospital and continued the process of examining their new baby girl to find out what was wrong. Heather was discharged and arrived at the next hospital less than twenty four hours after birth. It was the hardest moment in their life to be apart at such a critical moment. After extensive testing and conversation among doctors, Heather and Russell were led into a conference room where their life changed forever. It was a moment that no one could ever prepare someone for and will forever be ingrained in their minds. They were told that Adalyn had an extremely rare heart condition, along with several other conditions that would require more than one surgery. Heather and Russell had to make another life changing decision regarding hospital choice because the care Adalyn needed was out of the expertise of the current hospital. By luck they chose U of M, CS Mott Children’s Hospital and Adalyn was transferred by ambulance once again. Adalyn was at three different hospitals in the first thirty six hours of her life. Heather and Russell knew right when they walked in the door that they had made the correct choice in hospitals to take care of their new baby girl.
Adalyn is now 10 weeks old and has spent 8 of her 10 weeks in the hospital. Adalyn’s rare heart condition is called Scimitar Syndrome. Adalyn’s condition is not typical and does not seem to make sense to the doctors. The anatomy of her heart has left them pretty stumped, more than once. Along with her rare condition, Adalyn also has three holes in her heart, and VSD, ASD, and PDA, and an AP Colateral artery. All of this was causing her blood to mix and making it difficult for her to breathe. The doctors thought it was best to give her a few weeks to grow and when that did not seem to be working they found it in her best interest to do a heart Cath to tie off the AP Colateral. After recovering from her heart Cath, Adalyn was still not growing and they decided to go ahead with her open heart surgery. On November 10th, 2016, they took sweet Adalyn in to surgery to repair all four of her other heart defects. She did well in surgery, but recovery is very slow, she was still in ICU three weeks later. Unfortunately, after surgery and many x-rays, echocardiograms, MRI’s, doctors scratching their heads in confusion, and other tests they discovered that one of the repairs did not go as planned, and will likely require another surgery.
Adalyn has a long road ahead of her, she is recovering now, and will have another surgery to repair a different defect from birth between 3-6 months old. With Adalyn’s heart condition and other defects from birth, they believe Adalyn has VACTRL association. They have done a full genetic screen and will hopefully have answers soon. She has an amazing team of doctors who are working hard to put all the pieces together. Heather and Russell have not left her bedside and would not be anywhere else than beside their little fighter at the hospital. Due to the extensive situation, Heather has temporarily left her cosmetologist job behind and put all of her energy toward the love, health, and care of Adalyn. She is a true miracle and has endured so much in her little life, yet day in and day out proves to be a happy and content little bundle of joy. We know Adalyn will look back on this time in her life and realize that she is beyond special and brave. The support of friends and family has been a true blessing for the West family and they feel very grateful to have such amazing people believing in their daughter’s continuous recovery. This journey has been comforted by their many thoughts and prayers. Thank you!
Team Adalyn - Little Victors
If you have any questions just message Abigail Hammond or Andrea Kosa
Organizer and beneficiary
Abby Hammond
Organizer
Flushing, MI
Heather & Russel West
Beneficiary